Mapping the Money: Recovery Board Wants ‘One Stop Shop’

Stimulus overseer Earl Devaney published proposals Tuesday on how to create a single, “one-stop shop” that would hold all information on how recipients of federal dollars use the money. If that sounds esoteric, consider this diagram, produced by Mr. Devaney’s agency, on how it currently works:

U.S. Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board

Click on the image for a larger view.

Mr. Devaney, a former Secret Service agent, heads the board set up to oversee the implementation of the economic-stimulus package passed in February 2009. Now, he’s advocating to make the new transparency rules for the use of stimulus dollars apply to all federal grants, contracts and loans.

Both the White House and House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) announced separate plans Monday to create a new agency modeled after the stimulus board to monitor all federal spending. President Barack Obama signed an executive order setting up the board. Mr. Issa introduced legislation which would also set aside $51 million for the new board to develop a government-wide fraud detection system, and require all recipients of funds to submit regular, public reports…

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